Volt

Son Volt, one of the landmark bands of the "alternative country" movement, showed off its unique take on post-punk country Tuesday at the El Rey Theatre, delivering a low-key, no-attitude set that reveled in an impressively taut rootsiness. Rumpled lead singer and guitarist Jay Farrar delved right into the songs from the band's second record, "Straightaways."

A 22-year-old Thousand Oaks man was in critical condition Monday night with second and third degree burns on 35% of his body after he he came in contact with a Camarillo power transformer, a hospital spokeswoman said. John Hammonds Dunn was taken by helicopter to Los Robles Medical Center emergency room shortly after noon Monday, where he was treated for severe burns across the right side of his body. He was transferred later to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Two men were injured Tuesday afternoon in Orange when an antenna they were installing on the roof of a home became tangled in a high-voltage power line, officials said. One of the men was burned and the other suffered temporary heart failure when the antenna came in contact with a 12,000-volt power line about 3:30 p.m., Orange Fire Department Battalion Chief Jim Richardson said. The men were taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.

Le Volte is actually the second label of the famed Tuscan estate Ornellaia, which Robert Mondavi has just bought from Marchesi Lucovico Antinori. (His older brother, Piero, runs the Antinori wine estates.) The property is in Bolgheri, close to the Tuscan coast and not far from Sassicaia, the estate which proved it was possible to make great Bordeaux-style wines in this little-known area. This wine, distributed by Mondavi, stains the sides of the glass a deep garnet with violet overtones.

Getting zapped with 14,400 volts was enough to set his clothes on fire, but John Mays says about all he remembers "was one big flash." Co-workers put out the flames Tuesday, but the shock to his muscles kept the construction worker from letting go of an electrical transformer he had been working on. "That's when I came to. I told the guys to get some help. . . . I was stuck there for a while," Mays, 47, said from Parkland Hospital in Dallas.

The Other Spike in Energy Rates Vivid political rhetoric is a moribund art, and California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer's effort to revive it with a humdinger of a quote has brought shocked, shocked responses. Lockyer, who is investigating possible manipulation of wholesale electricity prices by energy firms trading in California, told the Wall Street Journal, "I would love to personally escort [Enron Corp.

When it comes to sales of electric vehicles, Nissan's Leaf is charging ahead. Nissan Motor Co. has sold 4,134 of the battery-powered electric cars this year. General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet, by comparison, has sold 2,745 of its Volt car, which is technically a plug-in hybrid because it runs on electricity for about 40 miles before a gasoline-fueled generator kicks in to extend the vehicle's range. Fans of the pure electric vehicles, rather than plug-in hybrid models such as the Volt, should be pleased, said Mike Omotoso, an auto industry analyst at J.D. Power & Associates.

Is General Motors losing $49,000 on every Chevrolet Volt electric car it sells? If so, it could be bad news for taxpayers who helped bail out GM and now own a third of an automaker that has seen its shares plunge 30% since it went public in 2010. A Reuters report Monday said GM's plug-in hybrid was a big money-loser. GM, though, disputed the contention, saying Reuters' research "is grossly wrong" and accusing the news agency of bad math. The automaker said the news agency incorrectly "allocated product development costs across the number of Volts sold instead of allocating across the lifetime volume of the program, which is how business operates.” The debate over the cost of the Volt is highlighting how much of a lightning rod GM -- and the Volt -- have become since the automaker's federal bailout in 2009 and as the presidential election approaches, analysts said.

Chevrolet's Volt topped the Sierra Club's list of plug-in hybrids in the environmental organization's annual Electric Vehicle Guide . At a price falling mid-range in the list of six EVs reviewed, the Volt takes drivers 38 electric-only miles before its gasoline engine kicks in. That results in a miles per gallon equivalent (mpge) of 98 on the Environmental Protection Agency's scale. In total, Volt owners get a range of 380 miles at an annual fuel cost of $950. (The estimate uses average $0.12 per kilowatt-hour and $3.61 for regular gas - quite a bit lower than the typical cost of gasoline in California.)